PITCAIRN'S ISLAND.

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 92, 9 October 1852, Page 5

PITCAIRN'S ISLAND.

[Continued from oar last.] ? ARTHUR QUINTAL'S EECIXAL. " " When the Bounty came here there were nine Englishmen, six Tahiti men, twelve Tahiti women, and a little girl landed from her. The English had each a Tahiti woman for a wife, and three of the Tahiti men were married to the remaining three women. Sometime afterwards Williams' wife died of sickness. The Englishmen then combined together and took the wife of one of the Tahitians for another wife for Williams. This created the first disturbance between the English and the Tahitians. William Brown was sent out by the English Government as gardener in the Bounty to look out after the Bread-fruit plants, which that vessel was to convey to the West Indies. Brown and Christian were very.intimate, and one night their two wives overheard Williams' second wife sing a song: —"Why should the Tahitian men sharpen their axes to cut. off the Englishmen's heads ?"■ Brown and Christian's wives told their husbands what Williams' second wife had been singing! When Christian heard of it, he went up to the house where all the Tahitians were assembled; he pointed his gun at them, but it missed fire. Two of the Tahitians ran to the bush, one of them to the West side of the island, the other to the South side of the island. The Tahitian Talolo, who went to the West side of the island was the husband of Williams' second wife. One day Talolo saw his wife and the wives of the two other Tahitians fishing; he beckoned to her and she went to him. He then took her away again into the bush. Another Tahitian, named Temua, then joined Talolo and his wife in the bush. After this Christian and the other Englishmen sent a Tahitian, named Manale, in search of them ; he was not long away before he found them, and then returned to the Englishmen and told them of his success. The Englishmen then consulted among themselves what to do, when they agreed to make three puddings and send them ; one pudding having poison in it was to be given to Talolo, and the other two puddings without the poison were to be given to the wife of Talolo and the other Tahitian Temua, who had joined them. The puddings were sent by the native Manale, who gave them to the natives as ordered; but a suspicion coming across Talolo's mind that his pudding had poison in it, he would not eat it, but eat his wife's pudding along with her. When Manale found that "Tololo would not eat the poisoned pudding, he induced him and the others to go up into the bush a little way, where he told them he had left his wife among some hread fruit trees. As they went up to Manale's wife, the foot path being very narrow, they walked behind each other, Manale being behind, but next to Talolo. Manale having a pistol with him, and having instructions to kill him before he returned, now took the opportunity and pulled the trigger of the pistol, it being pointed at Talolo's head, but it missed fire. Talolo hearing the noise the pistol made when the trigger was pulled, turned round and saw the pistol in Manale's hand. Talolo then ian away, and Manale after him ; they then had a sharp struggle, when Talolo called to his ■wife to assist him kill Manale, and Manale told the woman to assist him kill her husband, which she did, and in a very short time Manale and Tololo's wife killed Tololo. Manale, the woman, and the other Tahitian Temua then returned to the European settlement. Williams then took the woman again for wife as he formerly had done. Christian and the other Englishmen then sent Manale to find the other Tahitian, Ohulm, who had gone to the South side of the Island, whom he also soon found. He then returned and told the Englishmen of his success. The Englishmen then sent Manale and another Tahitian, Teraua, to kill him, which they succeeded in doing while pretending to cry over him. They then returned to the Settlement. The whole of the Bounty people then lived together, for some years, in perfect harmony. The six Tahitian men were brought down as servants to Mills, Quintal, McCoy, and Brown.

This island when these people came here was covered with sea-birds, and when they rose they completely darkened the air. The remaining four natives were employed after they had worked in their masters' gardens, to collect a lot of sea-birds for food for the Englishmen and their pigs which they had brought from Tahiti. Whenever the Tahitians did any thing amiss, they used to be beaten by their masters, and their wounds covered with salt as an extra punishment. The consequence was, that two of them, Temua and Nehou, took to the bush, and took with them each a musket and ammunition, with which they used to practice at firing at a mark in the bush. Edward Young had a garden some little, distance from the settlement, and the two natives who took to the bush used at times to come and work for him, as well as the other two natives who lived in the Settlement. Young appeared a great friend among the Tahitians, and John Adams said that he had every reason for supposing that Young had instigated the natives to destroy the Englishmen, excepting himself (John Adams); Young wishing to keep Adams as a sort of companion. At planting time, each Englishman had his own garden, which was some distance apart from each other, being in separate valleys on the North side of the Island. Three of the Tahitians finding that the whole of the Englishmen were widely scattered and unprotected, commenced to destroy them, beginning with John Williams and Fletcher Christian. At the time they shot Christian, Christian hollowed out; Mills and McCoy and Manale were then working about 200 yards from Christian's garden, and McCoy hearing Christian call out " oh dear," told Mills he thought it the cry of a wounded man ; but Mills thought it was Christian's wife calling her husband to dinner. After the three natives had killed Christian, they then went to where Mills was working, and one of them, the other two being concealed in the bush, called to Mills and asked him to let his native Manale go along with him to fetch home a large hog which they had just killed. Mills then told Manale that he might go. Manale then joined the other three natives, when they told Manale that they had killed Williams and Christian, and wanted to know how they might destroy Mills and McCoy. It was then agreed that these three men should creep into McCoy's house unobserved, which they succeeded in doing. Manale then ran and told McCoy that the two natives that had taken to the bush were robbing his house. McCoy then ran to his house, and as soon as he got to the door, these three natives fired at him, but did not kill him. Manale seeing that they had not killed him, seized him, but McCoy being the strongest man of the two, threw him into the pigsty, and then ran and told Mills to run into the bush, as the natives were trying to kill all the Englishmen; but Mills would not believe that his friend Manale would kill him. McCoy then ran to tell Christian, but found that he had been murdered already. About this time McCoy heard the report of a gun, which he supposed had killed Mills, and which turned out to be the case. McCoy then ran to Christian's wife, who was at her house, and told her that her husband had been killed ; having been confined that day she could not move. McCoy then ran to Matthew Quintal, and told him to run into the bush, and Quintal told his wife to go and tell the other Englishmen what had taken place. While she was going along she called out to John Adams, who was working in his garden, and asked him Avhy he was working this day, she thinking that he had heard of everything that had taken place. Adams did not understand her; she said no more, but went away without telling Adams anything more about the murders. The four natives then ran down to Martin's house, and finding him in the garden, ran up to him, and asked him if he knew what had been done that morning. He said, no. They then pointed two muskets to his stomach, and pulled the triggers, and said, " we have been doing the same as shooting hogs ; he laughed at them, not suspecting anything the matter. They recocked the muskets, and pulled the triggers again, the muskets going oft" the second lime. Martin then fell wounded, but not killed. He °*ot up and ran to his house, the natives followed him, and got hold of one of the Bounty's sledge hammers which they found in his house, and beat his brains out. ' They then went to Brown's house, and found him working in his garden ; they fired at him and killed him, Adams hear-

ing the reports of the guns when Brown and Martin were killed, went to see what was the matter. When he arrived at Brown's house, he saw the four natives standing leaning on the muzzles of their muskets, the butt of their muskets being upon the ground. Adams asked them what was the matter; they said,"mamu" (silence). They then pointed their muskets at him, when he ran away, they following him, but he soon left them behind. He then went to Williams' house, with the intention of getting some thick clothing to go into the bush with, when he discovered that he had been killed. He however took some thick clothes from Williams* house, and then returned to his own house round by the rocks. He then took a bag from his own house, and while putting some yams into it to take into the bush with him, he was fired upon by the natives, and a ball passed in at the back of his neck, and came out at the front of his neck. He then fell, when the four natives approached and attemped to kill him with the butt end of a musket; but he guarded himself with his hand and had one of his fingers broken at the time. After struggling for some time he managed to get away and runoff, and the natives after him. When he had got some distance a-head of them, the natives cried out for him to stop, which he refused, saying that they wanted to kill him. The natives then said, " No, we don't want to kill you; we forgot what Young told us about leaving you alive for his companion." Adams then went to Young's house with the four natives, and found Young there. The natives then went into the mountains armed, to try and find McCoy and Quintal, and after several days' search they found them along with Quintal's wife in McCoy's house, which was up the mountain. When the natives found them they were all asleep; the natives fired upon them, but did not wound any of them,. They then took to the bush again; after this the four natives returned to the Settlement. One evening when Young's wife was playing upon a flute (made out of a piece of bamboo) at Young's house, where all the other women were then living, one of the natives (Temua) sung a song as Young's wife played upon the flute. Manale, one of the other natives, being present, became jealous at Temua's singing to Young's wife. Manale then took up a musket and fired at Temua, which only wounded him. Temua told the women to bring him a musket to shoot Manale. Manale in the mean time reloaded his musket and shot Temua dead. The other two natives then became much annoyed, and threatened to kill Manale. Manale then took to the bush and joined Quintal and McCoy, but they would not have anything to do with him until he put his musket clown, which they took possession of. He then told them of what had taken place, and said that he had come to join them and be their friend. Manale then persuaded Quintal and McCoy to go down with him to the Settlement so that they might kill the other two Tahitians, and when within a few yards of the house where the two natives were, Manale saw the two natives and sprang upon the stoutest of them. Quintal and McCoy thinking it a scheme of Manale's to entrap them, made off for the bush again; but such was not the case. Manale soon after joined McCoy and Quintal again. Adams and Young then wrote them a letter, and sent it by Quintal's wife to persuade them to kill their newfriend Manale, which they succeeded in doingby shooting him with his own gun, which he gave them when he went to make friends with them. After this the remaining two Tahitians again went in search of McCoy and Quintal, when they found them under a tree. They fired upon them, but did not wound them. They again ran away from the natives, and whilst running McCoy cut his foot with a piece of wood. The natives seeing the blood thought they had wounded McCoy. After this they then returned to the Settlement, and told Young they had wounded McCoy. Young then sent his wife and Martin's widow round to find McCoy and Quintal, and to see if either of them were wounded. Young told his wife to tell them that on a certain day they all intended to kill the two remaining Tahitians, and that a certain signal would'he made to that effect. These two women then returned and told Young that neither of them were wounded. The plan was then arranged to destroy the two remaining Tahitians in the following- manner—namely ; Young persuaded Brown's widow to go to bed to Tatilriti, the most powerful of the two natives, and cautioned her on no account to put

her arm under the Tahitian's head when she went to sleep, as she intended to cut his head off with an axe as soon as he went to sleep. When Young's wife had killed this Tahitian, she was to tell her husband to fire, upon which signal he was to kill the other native by shooting him with his musket; but during the time that Young was loading his musket, the Tahitian thinking that Young was going out to shoot McCoy and Quintal, told him to doubleload his gun. Young answered, " Yes I will." Young's wife then struck the stout Tahitian in his bed, but did not hit him fair. The stout Tahitian upon getting up in his bed was struck a second time with the axe, which killed him dead; at which time she told her husband to fire, which signal he obeyed, and blew the other Tahitian's head nearly off his shoulders. Thus ends the tragedy of the Tahitians. The signal was then made to McCoy and Quintal to come down as the two Tahitians were killed, but they would not believe it. Young then cut the hands off the two dead Tahitians, and sent them up by some of the women to McCoy and Quintal, as a sort of certificate that the men were actually dead. Upon the women delivering the hands to them, McCoy and Quintal then descended the mountain with the women, and reached the house of Young in safety. They all now remained upon friendly terms for some time. Young took two of the widows (Williams' and Christian's) and three children into his house to live with him. Adams took three of the widows (Mills' and two children, and two of the Tahiti mens' wives), McCoy took Brown's widow, and Quintal took Martin's widow. Adams and Williams lost their wives previous to the bloody tragedy in 1793. Young was a half-caste West Indian, born at St. Kitts. Whilst there he learned how'to make spirits. By his knowledge of making them there, he soon made some here out of the Ti root, by the aid of a large copper boiler, which came out of the Bounty. The consequence was that they all took to drinking at times, and many quarrels ensued. Quintal about this time lost his wife, she being killed by falling over the rocks while searching after birds' nests. Quintal after the loss of his wife wanted to marry another one, but the rest of the white men were against it. He then threatened their lives; soon after this they got hin? to drink and made him drunk, when" the three Englishmen killed him with ?,n axe. After this McCoy drank to excess; at times he used to be away from home for a week, and no one knew where he had been ; at last he fastened a large stone round his neck and jumped into the sea, where he was drowned. The day previous to this, Young died of consumption. Adams was now the only man upon the Island ; the women and children all looked up to him with great respect, and always called him their father. About ten years after this, he had an extraordinary dream, which was that the Angel Gabriel came down from Heaven and warned him of his past wickedness. From this date Adams became a most religious man, and used every means in his power to instruct the ' w.Qmen and children upon the island in reading, writing, and in the fear of God. At this time Adams always had morning and evening prayers; the only books upon the island were some Bibles and Prayer books. While looking over the Prayer book one day he found that Ash Wednesday and Good "Friday were fast days, and at the same time thought that every Wednesday and Friday must be fast days also, and as such he kept them until 1823, when Mr. Buffett arrived among them to reside as school-master, and told him of his error. He gave up Wednesday as a fast day upon the arrival of Mr. Buffett, which the inhabitants were very glad of, as their hard labours, and two strict fast days in the week, did not agree with them ; many of them frequently fainted from want of food. But Good Friday was kept as a fast day until his death. The only fast day now kept is Good Friday. The manner in which the children first learned their prayers is rather strange. Adams wanted a piece of ground broken up, to plant some yams in, and he engaged two young men, Edward Quintal and Robert Young to do the same for him, and as payment a small phial of gunpowder was to be given. After the ground was broken up, and the yams planted, these two men asked Adams which he would like to do best, give them the gunpowder, or teach them some prayers out of the prayer bouk. Adams, who was inuuh pleased

at their remarks, consented at once to teacli them, and offered them the gunpowder as well, which they refused to take from him. Adams told them that if there were any more of them who would like to be taught, lie would teach them. The consequence was that tlie whole of them came, much to Adams' delight. The Lord's prayer and Creed were taught them immediately after his dream ot Gabriel's appearance." (To he continued.)